ST. LOUIS -- Adam Wainwright posted his 19th victory, pitching a shutout Wednesday night as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-0 to hold their 2½-game edge in the NL Central.
Wainwright (19-9) worked around seven hits and tied for the major league lead in wins and shutouts.
St. Louis has won four of five and kept its advantage over second-place Pittsburgh. Milwaukee dropped 2 1/2 games behind the Pirates for the second NL wild-card spot.
Mike Fiers (6-3) held the Cardinals hitless until Wainwright singled up the middle with two outs in the sixth. It was Fiers' first start since beaning Miami's Giancarlo Stanton last week, ending his season.
Wainwright struck out seven and walked two in his ninth career shutout. He has thrown three shutouts this year, matching Detroit's Rick Porcello and Miami's Henderson Alvarez for most in the majors.
Wainwright and Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw are atop the majors in victories.
This was the Cardinals' 21st shutout of the season, their most since 1968 when Bob Gibson and the rest of the staff had 30.
Fiers gave up one earned run and three hits in seven innings.
The Cardinals broke through in the seventh. After hit a drive that went about 3 feet wide of the foul pole, Matt Holliday walked with one out and reached third on Matt Adams' single, continuing home when Gold Glove center fielder Carlos Gomez slipped and mishandled the hit for an error.
Jhonny Peralta singled home Adams.
GIANTS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 2 Pinch-hitter Matt Duffy delivered a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning and visiting San Francisco narrowed its gap in the NL West, beating Arizona.
BRAVES 3, NATIONALS 1 Three runs scored on Christian Bethancourt's single in the sixth inning and Atlanta beat visiting Washington a day after the Nationals wrapped up the NL East title.
CUBS 3, REDS 1 Kyle Hendricks kept up his impressive rookie season, pitching seven strong innings as host Chicago beat Cincinnati.
MARLINS 4, METS 3 Henderson Alvarez ended a three-start winless streak, and visiting Miami beat New York to finish a trying 10-game trip in which they lost All-Star slugger Giancarlo Stanton to a season-ending injury when he was hit in the face by a pitch.
ROCKIES 16, DODGERS 2 Justin Morneau tied a season high with six RBI -- five in an eight-run first inning against spot starter Carlos Frias -- and host Colorado routed Los Angeles. Morneau had a three-run home run and a two-run single in the first.
INTERLEAGUE
PIRATES 9, RED SOX 1 Gregory Polanco, Neil Walker and Ike Davis homered and host Pittsburgh beat Boston to maintain its grip on the second National League wild-card spot. Polanco and Walker hit home runs off Boston starter Clay Buchholz (8-9) and Davis drilled a three-run shot to center off Steven Wright.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ROYALS 6, WHITE SOX 2 Lorenzo Cain hit a three-run home run, Nori Aoki kept up his tear at the plate and Kansas City roughed up visiting Chicago ace Chris Sale (12-4). Alcides Escobar also homered for a Royals offense that had been scuffling for weeks, and Aoki went 3 for 4 to finish with 11 hits in the series. Yordano Ventura (13-10) allowed three hits and two walks over seven innings, the lone run off him coming on a sacrifice fly.
TWINS 8, TIGERS 4 Danny Santana tripled, doubled and drove in two runs as host Minnesota beat Detroit to tighten the AL Central race ahead of the Tigers' big weekend series in Kansas City.
INDIANS 2, ASTROS 0 Carlos Carrasco threw a two-hitter with a career-high 12 strikeouts to lead visiting Cleveland over Houston. Yan Gomes had an RBI single in the fourth inning and a run-scoring triple in the sixth.
ORIOLES 6, BLUE JAYS 1 Steve Pearce homered twice and drove in four runs and AL East champion host Baltimore beat Toronto for a three-game sweep. Pearce hit a home run in the third inning and a three-run drive in the fifth.
YANKEES 3, RAYS 2 Derek Jeter ended an 0-for-28 slump that was the second-worst of his career, and visiting New York beat Tampa Bay. The retiring Yankees captain lined a single off Alex Cobb (9-8) leading off the sixth inning.
Sports on 09/18/2014